TV series | Screenwriters under pressure

The stories on our screens are born from the pen of screenwriters who imagine them and work them with passion, but sometimes to the detriment of their health. Portrait of a shadow profession subject to an increasingly demanding industry.

Marissa Groguhe
Press

It took us several days, missed calls and texting to finally have Geneviève Simard on the phone. The author is overwhelmed. She must deliver the script for an episode of her new series under very tight deadlines, and the deadline is fast approaching. She’s only slept a handful of hours a night for three weeks, she tells us when we join her. “It doesn’t make sense and at the same time, I love my job, I wouldn’t do another,” she said. But at some point, health no longer follows. I did two burnouts. And there isn’t a screenwriter around me who hasn’t burned out. ”

The portrait does not seem very bright, but Geneviève Simard, like all the television writers who confided in Press, insists on the beauty of his profession. “Writing is what makes me the happiest since I was little,” says the one who worked on the series The Disappearance, The cottage and Chaos. I have touched on several things in the artistic field, and if I chose this profession, it is because it is a passion. ”

But the proliferation of platforms and programs is leading to fierce competition between broadcasters, who want to benefit from the greatest possible funding for their content and reach the largest possible audience. To meet this demand, producers offer or accept more projects. Projects that must be written by the authors who are not much more numerous.

Several projects are best carried out by a single screenwriter, who holds all the threads to weave his story. But when Geneviève Simard asked that a co-author be allowed to join her for the creation of a series, a few years ago, when she was coming back from a first forced shutdown, the production refused. “And when I fell in battle, we finally hired several writers to write the last episodes,” says the screenwriter. Now, even if she likes having a rather lonely job, she works “all the time in collaboration”.

Forced rest

Frédéric Ouellet confides to Press have himself experienced this “forced rest” that many screenwriters must take at one (or more) moment in their journey. ” After The survivors, in 2021, I was at an end ”, said in an interview the author of The fault and co-author of Victor Lessard and The boys. And although he was able to make a name for himself before hitting that wall, especially thanks to the series Big bear, he had the feeling of “starting from scratch” by going back to work. “I felt like no one remembered me. It took a long time, but since then, it works, even if the worry [de ne plus travailler] is still there. With this job, you never know when you’re going to have your next project, ”he says.

TV screenwriters are members of the Society of Radio, Television and Cinema Authors (SARTEC), a professional association set up to defend their interests. It is their “only resource”, says Frédéric Ouellet, who however did not turn to her when he fell into burnout.

Since then, he tries to stop between each project, as soon as he can. “It comes in jerks, so when it rolls, it never stops. And when I run out of deadlines, I develop business at my own pace, I catch my breath for when it will start again. ”

At SARTEC, we ask the writers to always call on it when needed. Its president Chantal Cadieux, herself an experienced screenwriter, says she has often “seen and heard” the distress of its members. “Especially now, with the large volume of series requested,” she said. It’s very exhausting, it takes a lot of energy. There is a great need and the deadlines are shorter, because of all the platforms. So you have to write a lot. But there are 24 hours in a day for everyone. ”

A question of deadlines

The storyline is the raw material of our entertainment. This is where it all begins. “Without a good story, there is no good show”, summarizes the actor Normand Daneau (Guys, The Simones, 30 lives), who co-wrote the series The Disappearance with Geneviève Simard. “And it’s extremely complex and precise to write a screenplay. ”

The process is long to arrive at a text that we will put in images. The “bible” to present the concept (synopsis, description of the characters, dramatic curve, etc.), the first dialogue episode to illustrate the tone of the series, the scene-to-scene, the dialogue version, the final version … Everything this taking into account the comments of the producers at every stage, who ask for changes to the story, new versions and adjustments during filming.

Then, when the script passes into the hands of the production team, “there is a loss of control at all levels”, explains Guillaume Vigneault. Some people experience it better than others. Some also see their vision more respected than others. But the passage of the ball must be done within certain deadlines, often very tight.

Time is money

It is solo that Guillaume Vigneault developed the concept and the first season of the series Tomorrow of men for about eight years. He then found himself in a “more rock and roll” working rhythm for the second, which was ultimately not shot. “I was comfortable, but there are times when I wish I had more time to create a narrative,” says the author. I don’t want to whine about the hand that feeds me, because nobody breaks sugar on our backs for fun. ”

When the time comes for the second season, the pressure redoubles because we waited for the results on the air from the first before putting the resources into the development of a sequel, continues Guillaume Vigneault, who would like us to invest instead. upstream. “And there, everyone is in the mud,” he said. It’s not just the writers who pedal too hard. The research, the casting, everyone. We tax a lot of people for momentary savings. ”

When an entire production waits for the delivery of a script to embark on filming, “the pressure is strong for one person,” says Chantal Cadieux, who remembers her debut, when told to her while she was finishing. the writing that people were waiting for next to the photocopier that she sends her texts. “We like to write, but all it takes is this pressure for it to sometimes block,” she adds. In development, we can still shift things, but in production, and I live it on a daily basis, you have to be tough. ”

For Chantal Cadieux, adequate credit, an appropriate stamp, reasonable working times, “it’s just a matter of respect”. “We have to regain our power,” she says. That we don’t just think that we are being honored to play our lyrics, to get involved. Because without our work, there wouldn’t be any series. ”